Serum-free culture of adult chicken hepatocytes; morphological and biochemical characterisation.

The morphological and biochemical characterisation of adult chicken hepatocytes in a serum-free culture are described. When cultured in positively charged plastic dishes, chicken hepatocytes formed a monolayer cell sheet. The monolayer morphology of these chicken hepatocytes was quite distinct from the spheroid shape of rat hepatocytes cultured under similar conditions. Electron microscopy showed that the cytoplasmic organelles of chicken hepatocytes were well preserved in vitro. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis showed that the chicken hepatocytes secreted liver-specific proteins. Several enzymes of glucose-6-phosphatase, cytochrome P-450 or glutathione S-transferase, involved in metabolic and biotransformation pathways in the liver, were retained in the chicken hepatocytes in a serum free condition. These findings suggest that the primary culture of adult chicken hepatocytes with a serum-free culture system could be useful to study the hepatic metabolic pathway in the chicken and its response to various chemicals.